Paramilitary forces of China
The paramilitary forces of China are the military units and formations apart from the People's Liberation Army, the principal military force of the People's Republic of China. They are composed of three main forces, the People's Liberation Army reserve force, the People's Armed Police (PAP), and the Militia, and they act as auxiliaries to the active forces of the People's Liberation Army. They generally perform a wide range of roles. All together, the paramilitary has 98,854,000 troops, as of 2018.[1]
People's Armed Police[edit]
The People's Armed Police Force[2][a] is a Chinese paramilitary organization[3]: 121 primarily responsible for internal security, riot control, counter-terrorism, disaster response, law enforcement and maritime rights protection[4] as well as providing support to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) during wartime.[5]: 87
Unlike the civilian People's Police,[b] the PAP[c] is a specialized paramilitary force reporting directly to the Central Military Commission (CMC). PAP officers and soldiers wear dark olive green uniforms, different from pine green uniforms of the People's Liberation Army Ground Force (PLAGF) or the light blue and black uniforms of the People's Police.Militia[edit]
People's Liberation Army Reserve Service[edit]
The 1984 Military Service Law stipulated the combination of the militia and the reserve service system. Military training for senior middle-school and college and university students commenced in 1984 as China sought to provide additional qualified reserve service officers. The reserve force consisted primarily of the militia and was organized into reserve-service divisions and regiments.
In 1987 China began to make reference to the National Defense Reserve Force, which apparently consisted of reserve soldiers (including all militia, demobilized soldiers, and specialized technical personnel registered for reserve service) and reserve officers (including demobilized officers and soldiers assigned to reserve officer service, college and university graduates, and civilian officials and specialized technicians). The Reserve, as of 2016, is made up of 510,000 reserve personnel of all ranks.
Production and Construction Corps[edit]
The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XJBT; 新疆生产建设兵团; 新疆兵团), also known as Bingtuan ("The Corps"), trading as the external name China Xinjian Group,[9] is a state-owned enterprise and paramilitary organization in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
The XJBT was established in 1954 under the orders of Mao Zedong, and developed sparsely populated areas in its early decades, taking the model of the traditional tuntian system of setting military units in frontier areas. The XJBT was severely damaged during the Cultural Revolution, and was outright abolished in 1975, before being re-established in 1981, partly due to the Soviet-Afghan War. It re-established its economic dominance over Xinjiang afterwards, also being responsible for maintenance against the "three evils" (separatism, religious extremism, and terrorism). In its history, the XJBT has built farms, towns, and cities, provided land and employment to disbanded military units, and re-settled Han migrants from other parts of China in what has been called a campaign of assimilation.See also[edit]
- Central Military Commission (China)
- List of countries by number of total troops
- Paramilitary forces of India
References[edit]
Citations[edit]
- ^ "China's Armed Forces, CSIS (Page 24)" (PDF). 2006-07-25. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 11, 2010.
- ^ "Military Services – Ministry of National Defense". eng.mod.gov.cn. Retrieved 2024-04-20.
- ^ Sun, Ivan Y.; Wu, Yuning (December 2009). "The Role of the People's Armed Police in Chinese Policing". Asian Journal of Criminology. 4 (2): 107–128. doi:10.1007/s11417-008-9059-y. ISSN 1871-0131. S2CID 143891785.
- ^ "Top legislature passes armed police law". China Daily. 2009-08-27. Archived from the original on 2021-08-31. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
- ^ Blasko, Dennis J. (2006). The Chinese Army today : tradition and transformation for the 21st century (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. ISBN 0415770025. OCLC 68694731.
- ^ a b Law of the People's Republic of China on National Defence Archived 15 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine, Article 22: "The armed forces of the People’s Republic of China are composed of the active and reserve forces of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, the Chinese People's Armed Police Force and the Militia. ... The Militia, under the command of military organs, shoulders the tasks of preparations against war and defence operations and assists in maintaining public order."
- ^ Regulation on Militia Work (2011 Revision), Article 2: "The militia is an armed organization composed of the people not released from their regular work under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), is a part of the armed forces of the People's Republic of China and is an assistant and reserve force for the Chinese People's Liberation Army."
- ^ Military Service Law of the People's Republic of China Archived 2 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine, Chapter VI The Militia, Article 36: "The militia is an armed organization of the masses not divorced from production and is an assisting and reserve force for the Chinese People's Liberation Army. The tasks of the militia are: ..."
- ^ "Establishment, Development and Role of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps". China Internet Information Center. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
Sources[edit]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. Country Studies. Federal Research Division. [1]
Further reading[edit]
- Andy Bunk. Forgotten A look at the changing roles of the Chinese militia system in the Communist era from its inception to the present.
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